WBC UBUNTU African Spirit belt

ABOUT NYAMBO MASAMARA (the designer) @masamara.africa

A Rwandan born, raised in 8 African countries now living in South Africa, Nyambo MasaMAra is a versatile multi-disciplinary artist, Textile and fashion designer, working in a range of media and across platforms.

Nyambo is a pseudonym derived from his totemic relationship to the national cattle of Rwanda, with the elegant long horns. They are accorded royal status in his homeland.

His highly acclaimed fashion brand is MASAMARA. The artist’s work is informed by his life experiences. One of 13 children, he was born a mixed heritage couple in Rwanda before the genocide. His family was forced to flee to the DRC in 1994, and continued to move between Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. At the age of 13, he was sent overland by his family to join his older brother, who was working as a car-guard in South Africa.

He was accorded refugee status in South Africa. He attended High School and College in Cape Town. Cape Town is his home. An accountant by training, he practices as a professional fashion designer and now artist. He is 29. His designs are now featured in shows around the world.

THE ARTIST AND HIS FOCUS

Nyambo MasaMara is young, charismatic and visionary. His work is the ultimate attestation to his personality – vibrant, exploratory, resilient and transformative, but deeply considered and utterly routed in his pan-African physical and spiritual identity.

While his fashion design evokes a vivid reification of the best of Africa: Pan-/Trans-/Uni-African, it is all-encompassing in identity, borrowing and transforming visually and iconographically. He designs and prints his own fabric – referencing the kaleidoscopic and ubiquitous signature Ankara wax print of Africa.

Nyambo MasaMara locates himself in a Pan-African identity, while still acknowledging his liminality – between-ness, transformative transience, perpetual movement, and searching and… physical homeless- and state-less-ness, but a spiritual centredness. As all refugees, he remains in limbo, an outsider, and an ‘alien’. And yet the beauty of form and colour, and his personal optimism, and spiritual evocations ultimately transcend his painful circumstances. This, his debut exhibition, signals a transition from spectacular fashion, to a profound visual arts

WBC UBUNTU AFRICA SPIRIT BELT

The belt is inspired by the spirit of UBUNTU – the force that drives the African soul.
UBUNTU is a philosophical stance that resonates with much of the African continent.

Meaning humanity, UBUNTU is also expressed as “I am because we are”, or “I am because you are”.

The term is given different expression and/or pronunciation relative to the place within the continent, however, they all share the same philosophy, that is, the connectedness that exists (or should exist) between people. UBUNTU can also be a way of thinking what it means to be human and how we as humans should behave towards each other.

The belt symbolises the strength that lies within togetherness. It places a spotlight on the many African misconceptions, while it also highlights the side of Africa that is hardly shown to the world, and therefore places emphasis back on the true African spirit of UBUNTU.Therefore, the belt is more than a trophy, as it symbolizes the characteristic of a true Africa, and what it means to be an African: true warriorship, the brave spirit, the force of the soul that beats within all African children’s hearts, as well as the fertile soil that holds them firm.

BREAK DOWN 

Plate with gold outline around the outmost circle:
Inner black ring with the three smaller circles around the edge: symbolises the strong force of the soul which is the African spirit “UBUNTU”
The honeycomb: symbolises the spiritual input, as well as the connectivity and strength between those who came before us, the present generation, and the future generations

The dark black/golden colours: symbolizes the fortune and the blessings of Mother Africa, which have been bestowed unto all her children to have and enjoy. Not only that, but to nurture for future generations because the philosophy of UBUNTU also requires that we prepare the paths of those that are yet to come.

The flags growing in and out: symbolizes our growth and the victories within our unity.

BLACK/GOLD WBC LOGO:

Symbolizes the value of all living organisms.

The print reflects the beauty of the African diversity.

COLOURS: 
Black: spiritual energy and maturity.
Blue: love, harmony, togetherness and peace.
Orange: The balance in the universe.
Gold: wisdom, understanding, and enlightenment.

SYMBOLS:
UNITY
WISDOM
ROYALTY
LOYALTY
GREATNESS
STRENGTH
CHILD OF THE UNIVERSE (GOD’S CHILD)
SPIRIT MASK